As a working mom, I’ve struggled with the Daycare Dilemma for years. The guilt of leaving my children with someone else for the day eats away at me.

As much as I love the kids’ daycare provider, knowing that she’s more patient and creative than I am, I can’t help but feel like an evil mother for leaving my children.

As I’ve written before, we’ve recently moved. Sadly, that move meant we had to leave our beloved Miss Young and her daycare of rainbows and kittens. No. Seriously. The woman is like Mary Poppins mixed with Tiger Mom. The kids worship her and, at the same time, learn more from her than in most preschools. She’s brilliant and if she wasn’t twenty minutes in the opposite direction of my work day commute, I’d never leave her.

While I’ve researched daycares, Elizabeth has been hanging with her grandparents. This morning, as we got ready to walk out the door, she took my hand and said, in her sweet little voice, “Okay. I go school NOW.” Did I say sweet? Oh. I meant “demanding”. So hard to keep the two straight.

“Do you want to go to school?”

“I do.”

“But you’re going to play and Boppa and Gee’s today!”

“No. I go school NOW.” She lowered her head and glared at me.

“So you’re telling me you’d rather go to daycare than to your grandparents’ house for the day.”

“Yes!” She nodded her head, a big smile on her face.

I guess she, at least, doesn’t mind going to daycare. Score one for the daycare.

Mandy Dawson is the creator of In Mandyland, an almost daily blog recording her adventures in juggling a full-time job, two active children, four arguing hens, a fluffy bunny, and one ex-husband. A self-diagnosed gardening and crafting addict, she often finds herself gluing together clay pots and trying to discover the cure for brown thumb. When she’s not writing, she can be found burning dinners while she stares off into space with a story idea. She was a regular contributor for Makes Fun of Stuff, Aiming Low, and Six Kitchens, and has been featured on BlogHer and Mamapedia. She is an Assistant Editor for Write on Edge and has had her fiction featured in three anthologies currently available on Amazon.